PGA Tour provide LIV Golf merger update after Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy clash during meeting with Saudi chiefs
The PGA Tour met with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) in New York City on Friday, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy involved in the discussions
The PGA Tour has revealed that negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) are continuing to ‘accelerate’ after the two sides met in New York City on Friday.
Last June the PGA Tour shocked the sport, after announcing they had reached a framework agreement with PIF in a bid to end their ongoing dispute with LIV Golf. One year on from the surprise announcement, the peace agreement is still yet to be completed with talks ongoing.
These negotiations continued on Friday, with representatives from both sides meeting in New York. On Saturday, the American-based circuit provided an update on proceedings in a press release to reporters.
“As previously stated, our negotiations with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) have accelerated in recent months,” the statement read. “Representatives from the PGA Tour Enterprises Transaction Subcommittee and the PIF have been meeting multiple times weekly to work through potential deal terms and come to a shared vision on the future of professional golf.
“On Friday evening, an in-person session in New York City included the entire Transaction Subcommittee and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and his team, where more progress was made. We remain committed to these negotiations, which require working through complex considerations to best position golf for global growth.
“We want to get this right, and we are approaching discussions with careful consideration for our players, our fans, our partners and the game’s future.” One man who played his role in the meeting was 82-time PGA Tour winner Tiger Woods, who is currently acting as one of the circuit’s player directors.
His close ally and business partner Rory McIlroy also played a role despite his involvement in this week’s Memorial Tournament in Ohio. With his playing commitments at Muirfield Village, McIlroy connected with the meeting via video call. The Northern Irishman had been one of LIV’s staunchest critics, but has softened his stance in recent months.
This week, McIlroy claimed he could see the two rival tours forming some sort of collaboration on the back of the peace talks. “I certainly don’t see in the next couple of years LIV slowing down,” McIlroy said. “They’re buying office space in New York. They have over 200 employees.
“I don’t see a world where – and I haven’t heard any of those guys say that they don’t want to play over there either, right? You’ve got guys who are on contracts until 2028, 2029. Looking a few years down the line, LIV is going to continue to sort of keep going down its path. But hopefully with maybe more of a collaboration or an understanding between the tours.
“Maybe there is some cross-pollenation there where players can start to play on both. I guess that will all be talked about in the coming weeks The only thing is there are so many tours and so many golf tournaments. There are only a certain amount of weeks in the year. That’s the complicated part. Trying to figure out which tournaments go where, when do we play them, how many players, what players.”
